12 most anticipated roller coasters of 2018

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Visitors at Cedar Point have long railed against one of its thrill machines, Mean Streak, for its excessively rough ride. In 2018, however, the innovative ride designers at Rocky Mountain Construction will perform their latest transformation by converting the old wooden coaster into a wooden-steel hybrid that will be known as Steel Vengeance. Cedar Fair Entertainment Company

A 90-degree, 200-foot drop will accelerate the trains to 74 mph, making it the tallest and fastest hybrid ride of its kind in the world. Coasters fans are drooling in anticipation. Cedar Fair Entertainment Company

Instead of making over existing wooden coasters, Rocky Mountain Construction will be building two virtually identical steel coasters from the ground up, the first of which is Wonder Woman Golden Lasso at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. Six Flags Entertainment

Known as a dive coaster, HangTime at Knott's Berry Farm will climb 150 feet and dangle over the edge for a few agonizing moments before diving down a beyond-vertical, 96-degree drop. Cedar Fair Entertainment Company

Billed as the world's tallest, steepest, and fastest full-circuit spinning roller coaster, Time Traveler's trains will drop 100 feet straight down as soon as they leave the station at Silver Dollar City. Herschend Family Entertainment

The unique ride, which will have a steampunk aesthetic, will include two mid-course magnetic launches and three upside-down inversions. Through it all, the coaster's cars will spin. Herschend Family Entertainment

The Harley Quinn Crazy Coaster at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom will feature two sets of cars on a single train that will rev up and coast along a compact, single-rail track in the shape of a vertical figure eight. Six Flags Entertainment

Known as a "Euro-Fighter," Tantrum's 8-passenger single-car trains will climb straight up a 98-foot lift hill, plummet down a 97-degree drop, accelerate to 52 mph, and fly through a heels-over-head inversion. This will be Darien Lake's first new coaster in ten years. Darien Lake Amusement Park

Slinky Dog Dash will be one of the rides debuting in the new Toy Story Land in Disney's Hollywood Studios. Its trains will resemble the spring-powered dachshund from the Pixar movies. Steven Diaz, Disney

Known as a "Euro-Fighter," Tantrum's 8-passenger single-car trains will climb straight up a 98-foot lift hill, plummet down a 97-degree drop, accelerate to 52 mph, and fly through a heels-over-head inversion. This will be Darien Lake's first new coaster in ten years.(Photo: Darien Lake Amusement Park)

After a relatively quiet year in 2017, amusement parks will be blazing rails with a vengeance in 2018. There will be plenty of new (and a few improved) roller coasters opening that will be filled with twists, hang time, and other wacky elements. Some of them will make riders feel like superheroes; others will travel back in time; all of them will elicit screams of joy (and a dash of terror). Let's run down the nation's most anticipated coasters debuting in this year.

Steel Vengeance at Cedar Point in Ohio
Visitors at the coaster-crazy park have long railed against one of its thrill machines, Mean Streak, for its excessively rough ride. In 2018, however, the innovative ride designers at Rocky Mountain Construction will perform their latest (and quite possibly, greatest) transformation by converting the old wooden coaster into a wooden-steel hybrid that will be known as Steel Vengeance.

It will feature the company's patented IBox steel track. Instead of the tubular tracks found on most steel coasters, IBox track is shaped like the letter "I." The trains' main wheels ride on the flat surface of the track, while their guide wheels fit snugly into the track's side channels. A 90-degree, 200-foot drop will accelerate the trains to 74 mph, making it the tallest and fastest hybrid ride of its kind in the world. Coasters fans are drooling in anticipation.

Wonder Woman Golden Lasso at Six Flags Fiesta Texas and RailBlazer at California's Great America
Instead of making over existing wooden coasters, Rocky Mountain Construction will be building two virtually identical steel coasters from the ground up. And instead of using a conventional pair of rails, the rides will be the first from the company to incorporate a single IBox track rail. RMC says the unique monorail design will enable Wonder Woman and RailBlazer to perform especially quick twists and turns and deliver even smoother ride experiences than its gloriously smooth twin-rail IBox track coasters.

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Six Flags will debut its Wonder Woman Golden Lasso Coaster in Spring 2018. The coaster will open at the Fiesta Texas location in San Antonio.
Six Flags

HangTime at Knott's Berry Farm in California
Known as a dive coaster, HangTime will climb 150 feet and dangle over the edge for a few agonizing moments before diving down a beyond-vertical, 96-degree drop. From there, the retro surfing-themed ride will navigate five topsy-turvy inversions. Knott's says that the coaster will include dramatic lights that will trace the progress of the trains at night and add to its curb appeal along the midway.

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Thrill seekers will drool over this exclusive peek at Knott's Berry Farm's new HangTime coaster.

Time Traveler at Silver Dollar City in Missouri
Billed as the world's tallest, steepest, and fastest full-circuit spinning roller coaster, Time Traveler's trains will drop 100 feet straight down as soon as they leave the station. The unique ride, which will have a steampunk aesthetic, will include two mid-course magnetic launches and three upside-down inversions. Through it all, the coaster's cars will spin.

Twisted Timbers at Kings Dominion in Virginia and Twisted Cyclone at Six Flags Over Georgia
RMC will be converting two more past-their-prime wooden coasters into wooden-steel hybrids. Neither will be as tall, fast, or attention-grabbing as Steel Vengeance at Cedar Point, but they should be significantly smoother and more fun than their previous incarnations. Both rides will feature three inversions (something traditional wooden coasters don't have). Twisted Timbers will offer 20 out-of-seat airtime moments, while Twisted Cyclone's 1960s-style sports car-themed trains will navigate a steep, 75-degree first drop.

Harley Quinn Crazy Coaster at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in California
The intriguing, first-of-its-kind ride will feature two sets of cars on a single train that will rev up and coast along a compact, single-rail track in the shape of a vertical figure eight. The cars will complete the circuit multiple times. During each run, they will soar upside down 62 feet in the air and fly past one another when they meet at the halfway point. Crazy!

Tantrum at Darien Lake in New York
Known as a "Euro-Fighter," Tantrum's 8-passenger single-car trains will climb straight up a 98-foot lift hill, plummet down a 97-degree drop, accelerate to 52 mph, and fly through a heels-over-head inversion. This will be Darien Lake's first new coaster in ten years.

Electric Eel at SeaWorld San Diego in California
Like "Sky Rocket" coasters found at other parks, Electric Eel will begin with three magnetic launches both forwards and backwards. The final launch will send its train soaring 62 mph up and over a huge 150-foot loop.

Oscar's Wacky Taxi at Sesame Place in Pennsylvania
The wooden coaster will only climb 40 feet and chug along at a moderate speed. That's not surprising, since Sesame Place is geared to young children. However, Oscar's Wacky Taxi is being designed and built by The Gravity Group, which has a reputation for crerating small coasters that pack a surprising punch. Expect a wacky ride experience.

Slinky Dog Dash at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida
Another toned-down family coaster, Slinky Dog Dash will be one of the rides debuting in the new Toy Story Land. Its trains will resemble the spring-powered dachshund from the Pixar movies.

Intended for water parks or other places where visitors could be in bathing suits, riders would get wet from the middle of their chest down. A clear canopy that is open on the bottom would keep water away from passengers' heads and upper torsos. Sub Sea Systems

Legoland California will also send visitors underwater to see real animals such as sharks and stingrays, but it will use 12-seat, fully enclosed submarines. Lego City Deep Sea Adventure, which is set to open in the summer, will also include divers fashioned from Lego blocks. Merlin Entertainments Group

Passengers aboard SeaWorld Orlando's Infinity Falls will get plenty wet, but they won't be submerged. Using a specially designed vehicle from Intamin Amusement Rides, the river raft ride will accommodate passengers as short as 42 inches and send them plummeting down a record-breaking 40-foot drop. Dave Quiles, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment

The move to incorporate virtual reality into park rides began in earnest a couple of years ago with VR roller coasters. Legoland Florida will continue the trend with its announcement that it is transforming its Project X coaster into The Great Lego Race. LEGOLAND Florida Resort, Merlin Entertainments Group

Set to open in the spring, riders will have the option of wearing VR headsets and could experience a virtual adventure that will sync with the physical elements of the coaster. LEGOLAND Florida Resort, Merlin Entertainments Group

Designers and parks now see great potential in merging VR with motion simulator rides. Among the companies jumping on that trend was Zamperla, which displayed its VR Box at the expo. It features eight suspended seats that are tethered above to a motion platform. Arthur Levine

Busch Gardens Williamsburg announced that it would be opening Battle for Eire this spring. Passengers wearing VR "fairy goggles" will go on a 360-degree adventure and explore a computer-animated, mythical Irish landscape. SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment

Sound is a critical part of the sensory equation in making virtual reality convincingly real. For the DreamCraft VR attractions it is creating, Cavu Designwerks has developed proprietary binaural audio technology CAVU Designwerks

Dynamic Attractions, a flying theaters pioneer, introduced the Dynamic Flightcycle at the IAAPA Expo. Using a ride vehicle that resembles the one Disney uses for the Avatar Flight of Passage attraction that recently opened at its Animal Kingdom park, it places passengers in a motorcycle-like position and angles them downward. Dynamic Attractions

Cavu Designwerks hopes to expand the flying theater concept by using suspended vehicles that move on a track through a series of scenes. Its Power Glider would use electro-magnetic propulsion to convey the vehicles, and the scenes could include a combination of screened media and physical sets. CAVU Designwerks

Garner Holt Productions has developed next-gen animatronics that incorporate as many as 46 servo actuators in the face and 7 in the neck. The company had a Cockney character on display at the expo that demonstrated remarkable expressiveness and fluidity. Arthur Levine

Amid all of the booths hawking VR and other cutting-edge technology, there were many roller coaster manufacturers touting the old-school ride. The Gravity Group, for example, showed off one of the lead cars of Oscar's Wacky Taxi, the wooden coaster it is building for Sesame Place in Pennsylvania. Arthur Levine

Mimicking a classic ride that operated at New York's Coney Island from 1908 to 1964, passengers board horse-like vehicles instead of conventional coaster cars and compete against one another on an undulating track that simulates a steeplechase obstacle race. S&S - Sansei Technologies

While the spinning coaster vehicle that Mack Rides revealed at the expo represented the latest in ride design innovation, its appearance and theme was decidedly from another era.The car will be part of Time Traveler, the world's tallest and fastest spinning coaster. Arthur Levine

One of the most forward-thinking coaster manufacturers, Rocky Mountain Construction, displayed a spiffy train from the wooden-steel hybrid Twisted Cyclone coaster set to launch in the spring at Six Flags Over Georgia. Arthur Levine

A model of a new kind of coaster concept, which ride designer Skyline Attractions dubs "Skywarp," was at the expo. It features a single, extra-long train with two sets of cars on a short, figure-eight track. Six Flags

German manufacturer Maurer had a car from its Spike coaster on display. Calling it the world's first interactive coaster, passengers straddle the seats like a motorcycle and can control the speed of the cars by turning a throttle mounted on their handlebars. Marc Wittkowski, Maurer

Dynamic Attractions announced its All-Terrain Dark Ride. Using ultra-wideband positioning (which the company claims is based on military-grade technology), the trackless, autonomous, self-driving ride vehicles can embark on multiple paths through an environment. Dynamic Attractions

Terry "Hulk Hogan" Bollea, in all of his bulging biceps glory, was seen kicking the tires at a few booths. The Hulkster was on a mission to incorporate theme park-style pizzazz into Hogan's Beach Shops, which sell wrestling memorabilia and beach accessories at locations in Orlando and Clearwater Beach, Fla. Steven Miller Photography, IAAPA

"In today's environment, they can't just be retail stores," explains the legendary wrestler. "They need to be attractions—themed experiences." Bollea isn't sure exactly what he is looking for, but, among other things, he hopes to create opportunities for his fans to relive moments from his storied career. Steven Miller Photography, IAAPA